Archivio di October 2007

Monday, 29 October 2007

Articles about the Sarakatsani in Bulgaria (Articoli sui Sarakatsani Bulgari):

WALLACHIANS, KUTZOWALLACHS, KARAKACHANS

The Slavs colonized the Balkans during the 4th-7th centuries. They found here two large tribal groups which were in close relationship with one another: to the north, in the lands of today's Romania, lived the Dacians, and to the south of the Danube - the Thracians. Both the Dacians and the Thracians had already been romanized and spoke a Vulgar Latin tongue.

The Dacians inhabiting the lands north of the Danube gradually assimilated the less numerous Slavs and this was how the Romanian people was formed. South of the great river it was the other way about - the native Thracians were absorbed by the Slavonic element, the major "component" of the Bulgarian ethnos.

In the Middle Ages, the Thracians who had not been assimilated by the Slavs came to be known as Wallachians /Vlachs/. They lived in clans, scattered in the high mountains of the Peninsula. More compact groups of them stayed in the region of the Greek mountain of Pindus. Later it was from this particular place that they began to "disperse" to all the other Balkan countries.

Some of the Wallachians, who are probably descendants of Hellenized Thracians, are called Karakachans, They still use in their dialect many Greek words. Only the people known as Kutzowallachs /Kutzovlachs/ have kept their Roman language. It is assumed that the Karakachans number about several thousand persons, and the Kutzowallachs - even less. The majority of them are Eastern Orthodox Christians.

The Karakachans and Kutzowallachs maintained their original culture in the course of centuries owing to their nomadic life in the past. Until the beginning of this century these shepherds spent the period of time between Gherghiovden - St. George's Day (23 April), and Krastovden - the Day of the Cross (14 September), in the Balkan, Rila, Pirin, and the Rhodope Mountains, then setting off south to winter near the Aegean Sea. These "migrations" were undertaken together with their families, wives and all children, in groups of 50-100 people. These communities consisted of both poor and rich, both masters and servants. They used to raise numerous flocks of sheep and were very good masters in producing various kinds of white and yellow cheese (kashkaval). In addition, each family had a dozen or so of horses.

The free movement of Karakachans and Kutzowallachs was seriously hampered in the first decades of the 20th century, when their century-old routes were confronted with the borders and custom-houses of the Balkan countries. After World War II their migrations ceased altogether. In the Bulgarian lands these "vagrants" were forced to settle in the towns or villages. With very rare exceptions, most of them abandoned shepherdship.

In recent times, Karakachans, supported officially by the Greek Government, have shown a growing interest in their original identity. One can see and learn a lot about their ancient customs, songs, dances, costumes at their traditional summer fair taking place near the town of Sliven, south-eastern Bulgaria.

Along with Karakachans and Kutzowallachs, there are several dozens of thousands "pure" Wallachians living in this country. They are peasants, who, from the 18th century on, kept fleeing to the Ottoman Empire, because taxes and levies there were lower than in their native land, Romania. Wallachians have formed more compact groups in the towns and villages along the southern bank of the Danube, mostly in the vicinity of the town of Vidin.

Sarakatsani in Bulgaria

In Bulgaria, according to the 2001 census, 4,107 individuals identified as Sarakatsani. In the census, this identification is considered separate from the identity of the Greeks in Bulgaria. Local organizations, however, estimate the number of Sarakatsani at up to 20,000. In Bulgaria, they are regarded as a distinct group of possible Vlach or Slavic origin.Most live in the vicinity of Sliven and are by now most of them Bulgarized. Another Bulgarian theory states that the Sarakatsani are descendants of Hellenised Thracians, who because of their isolation on the mountains did not became slavicised.According to the Italian anthropologist Pizzicaro who did extensive research in the villages inhabited by Sarakatsani:

Sarakatsans have strong affiliation with Greece but they don’t identify themselves as Greeks. A lot of young Sarakatsans go to Greece for seasonal jobs, as they are entitled to unlimited entries yearly visa to Greece, while some of them often decide to settle permanently. Today, more than 500 people only from Cocovo village live in Greece.

Wallachians & Aromanians in Bulgaria

These two communities have frequently been treated by scholars in unity because of: their Roman languages (which most linguists regard as Romanian dialects, although some experts assume the Aroumanian to be a separate language), their confusion in the historical sources and official public statistics and records, and their common institutions (schools and the like) established during different periods in Bulgaria. Whenever statistics refer to a Romanian speaking population without any differentiation, it should be taken into account that Romanian /Wallachian/ is the language spoken by some of the Gypsy people in Bulgaria. Nowadays, again, the two communities are represented by a single organization and publish a newspaper in common.

The theories of the origins of the two communities are numerous and contradictory with advocates of mutually exclusive assumptions being found even among their own ranks. Some scholars think that Aroumanians are descendants of Roman colonists, others that they come from certain native Thracian tribes, still others refer to Romanized Hellenes. Aroumanian colonies are found in Bulgaria, Greece, Romania, and Macedonia. (Recently the Council of Europe approved a document appealing for the preservation of the language and culture of the Aroumanians.) A long existing intra-community division comprises the groups of "urban Aroumanians", also called Tsintsars, and the nomadic shepherds.

Wallachian (Wallach, Vlach) population is to be found in the Serbian and Bulgarian regions along the Danube. According to one of the theories, this population consists of Romanian peasants who had migrated from the lands on the other side of the Danube in consequence of Ciocoi /big landlords/ oppression. Some other theories assert that Vlachs are the offspring of Bulgarian émigré families having re-emigrated from Romania for the same reason. It could be that the truth is somewhere in between. Both communities are Eastern Orthodox Christians.

At the turn of the 19th century, trade relations between the Austrian-Hungarian and the Ottoman Empire became more intensive. On the other hand, the southern Albanian lands, where the Aroumanians had settled, were caught up in anarchy and Christian Aroumanians were continuously harassed by Muslim Albanians. The Aroumanian residents of the ruined towns - Moskopolje, Linotipi, etc., were scattered around in Austria, Greece, Bulgaria, while Aroumanian shepherds migrated from the areas of the Gramoz Mountain and Pindus range in northern Greece. During the same period, Wallachians were also migrating from Romania - some of them fleeing from oppression by the big landlords (the Ottoman administration encouraged the settlement of the depopulated territories along the Danube), others were escaping from conscription introduced in the Principality of Wallachia. Aroumanian colonies were established in the towns of Peshtera, Plovdiv, Assenovgrad, Doupnitsa, Gorna Dzhumaya (modern Blagoevgrad), Sofia, etc. Wallachians settled along the Timok valley, near the towns of Vidin and Kula. There are records of clashes between ethnic Bulgarian and Aroumanian urban dwellers during the period of the Bulgarian national revival. The reason is that in the times of struggle for an independent Bulgarian Church the Aroumanian urban dwellers, as subjects of Greek schooling, were pro-Greek minded. After the Liberation, however, the number of Aroumanians grew up. Many of them, driven by their Orthodox Christian religion and by some other factors, preferred to live in Bulgaria rather than where they the had lived before, in Macedonia, which remained within the boundaries of the Ottoman Empire. The migrants of the new wave were no longer of pro-Greek orientation, but rather more closely tied with the Romanian culture. At the same time, they were much more receptive with respect to Bulgarian culture. Meanwhile, with the birth of new states on the Peninsula, many of the Aroumanian shepherds had to adopt a settled mode of living. Wallachians, the majority of whom are to this day characterized by a sense of relatedness to the Bulgarian lands, were actively involved in Bulgaria's political life and in large numbers participated in the wars waged by Bulgaria. The situation changed after 1918. On the one side, at that time Romania began an active propaganda among the Aroumanians and Vlachs, and, on the other, the successive Bulgarian administrations undertook actions of repression against them, although sporadically or within occasional campaigns. Romanian schools were open in the 1920's - mainly in Gorna Dzhumaya, while the school in Sofia gradually grew into a Romanian Institute and a lyceum. In 1923, a Romanian church was consecrated in Sofia, where Romanian priests conducted the services. (This church, which is under the jurisdiction of the Patriarchate of Romania, is still operative.) Aroumanians in the town of Gorna Dzhumaya have had a church of their own since 1906. Initially, the college and the church were in service of the Aroumanian community alone, but from 1933 on the lyceum began to admit students from among the Wallachians of the Danubian regions. The school functioned until 1948, when it was closed and the Aroumanian organizations were disbanded. In the 1930's, the Romanian universities would admit students, and provide fellowships to them, from the Wallachian population living by the Danube. There was also propaganda work encouraging migration to Romania. It was more effective among the Aroumanians, while only some 200 Vlach families left to live there. (On the one hand, Vlachs had no economic motivation to emigrate, on the other, we already mentioned their affiliation to the Bulgarian society.) After the coup in 1923, the leaders of the Wallachian movement persecuted by the new Bulgarian government emigrated to Romania, where they, together with Wallachian immigrants from Serbia, founded their associations and published their own newspapers.

Under the Communist regime, except for the overall policy of assimilation, there is no written evidence of some special measures aimed at the two ethnic communities or of some specific ban on the use of their language. This was due perhaps to the circumstance that Romania was also under Communist rule, as well as to the fact that a numerous Bulgarian ethnic minority lived there.

In 1991, an Association of Vlachs in Bulgaria was founded. Its membership includes both Vlachs and Aroumanians, the two communities maintaining the autonomy of their associations. They publish in Vidin one common newspaper Timpul /Time/ and the Aroumanian society issues a Bulletin, Armani, in Sofia. The Association sends to Romania young people to study at the universities there. (Similarly, through the Bulgarian Ministry of Education and Science, and with the help of the Bulgarian ethnic organizations in Romania, ethnic Bulgarians from Romania are admitted to the institutions of higher education in Bulgaria.) The association is a member of international minority organizations. It organizes folk festivals, maintains regular contacts with the Bulgarian and Romanian authorities, with non-governmental organizations, as well as with the organizations of the ethnic Bulgarians in Romania. Since several years, steps have been made to re-open the Romanian school in Sofia.

It is no chance that no figures have been mentioned so far. The reason is that statistical data are quite contradictory. According to the 1910 census, 1843 individuals have identified themselves using the ethnic names by which Aroumanians were referred to at that time, Tsintsars and Kutzovlachs. The same census, however, reports 80 000 Romanians and a total of 96 502 people whose mother tongue was Romanian. In 1920, when Bulgarian territories, populated among other people by Vlachs, were ceded to Romania and Serbia, a "Romanian" identity was reported by 57 312 persons, and the people whose mother tongue was Romanian numbered 75 065 of whom 10 648 Aroumanians. In 1926 the number of "Romanians" living in Bulgaria was 69 080, while the total number of individuals whose mother tongue was Romanian ran up to 83 746. The Aroumanins belonging to this group were divided, according to their self-descriptions, into three subgroups: 5000 Aroumanians, 4000 Kutzovlachs and 1500 Tsintsars. In the next census, which was conducted in the years after the 1934 coup, the number of all minority groups was deliberately reduced for political reasons. Numbers varied not only as a result of immigration, internal migratory movements and natural growth, but also as a result of varying self-identification of the same persons in the different censuses. Nevertheless, in 1992 as many as 5195 people declared themselves to be Vlachs and 2 491 Romanians, or 7 650 people in all. It should be added that these figures might include Roma people too. It is also likely for Vlachs and Aroumanians to have been placed under the title "others" because of their differing self-reported identity. The discrepancy with pre-war numbers is due mainly to the fact that most of the Wallachs, although they have kept their language and folk customs, prefer to identify themselves as Bulgarians.

This is what Encyclopaedia Britannica says about this ethnic group:

The Vlachs.
In central and southern Thessaly, the Vlachs played an important role. They have generally been identified with the indigenous, pre-Slav populations of Dacian and Thracian origin, many of whom migrated into the less-accessible mountainous areas of Greece and the northern Balkan region because of the Germanic and Avar-Slav invasions and immigration of the 5th-7th centuries. The Vlachs maintained a transhumant, pastoral economy in those areas. Their language belongs to the so-called Macedo-Romanian group and is closely related to that known from the 13th century on as Romanian (Daco-Romanian); it is essentially rooted in the late Latin, heavily influenced by the Slavic dialects with which the Daco-Thracian populations were in regular contact. By the 11th century the Vlachs are described as communities of shepherds who moved with their flocks between their winter pastures in Thessaly and summer pastures of the Gramoz Mountain and Pindus range; they are found in Byzantine armies and are mentioned in many documents dealing with landholdings in northern Greece, where--as is often the case in relations between settled and nomadic populations- - they were regarded as troublemakers and thieves. Byzantines were often imprecise in their use of ethnic names; the Vlachs seem frequently to have been confused with the Bulgarians, through whose territory they also wandered on their seasonal routes and pasturage. A major modern debate about the role of the Vlachs in the establishment of the Second Bulgarian empire after 1185 continues, strongly marked by nationalist sentiment.

Contents

The historical presence of Italian people in Dalmatia started with the Roman conquest of Illyrian Dalmatia. The historian Theodore Mommsen stated in his book History of Rome that all Dalmatia was fully romanised and latin speaking by the fourth century.

The Italian Dalmatians may in part trace their origins back to the Romano-Illyrians during the Barbarian Invasions of the fifth and sixth centuries, when among others, Avars and Slavs invaded Illyria. This invasion opened the way to the settlement of different Slavic tribes.

During those years the original Latin population found a shelter in the coastal cities and in the islands, whilst other migrated to the mountains (they were later called "Morlachs"). So, in the Dark Ages, the coastal area retained its original culture the most, mainly on the islands and cities such as Zara, Spalato, Ragusa and Cattaro. These cities maintained deep cultural and commercial links with the Italian mainland, throught the Adriatic Sea[1].

Starting from the tenth century the Republic of Venice imposed its influence on Dalmatia, gradually assimilating the neolatin Dalmatians.

The Republic of Venice controlled most of Dalmatia from 1420 to 1797. During that period, part of its Slavic population was italianised. The Venetian possessions were called "Venetian Dalmatia" and enjoyed a flourishing period of economic bonanza with huge development of the arts.

In these centuries, the Venetian language became the lingua franca of all the Adriatic Balkans, assimilating the Dalmatian language of the romanised Illyrians and influencing partially the coastal Croatian language (Chakavian[1]) and the Albanian language.[2]Zara was the capital of the Venetian Dalmatia, a role that has maintained through the successive centuries (during WWII it was the capital of the Italian Governatorato di Dalmazia). In those centuries, the most southern area of Dalmatia was called Albania Veneta, now part of coastal Montenegro.

After the fall of the Republic of Venice in 1797 to the Napoleon Armies, the Dalmatia was incorporated briefly (1805-1809) in the Napoleonic Kingdom of Italy. In those years the scholastic system was expanded to all the population (following the ideals of the French Revolution) and the Italian language was instituted as the official languages in the schools of Dalmatia.

When Austria occupied Dalmatia there was a revival of the Slav society inside Dalmatia. The Italian population, according to the austrian census, decreased from 22% in 1816 to 12.5% in 1853 and a mere 2.9% in 1910.

After WWI Italy obtained Zara and some northern Dalmatian islands (Cherso/Cres and Lussino/Losinj). During WWII the Kingdom of Italy annexed, to the newly created Governatorato di Dalmazia, most of Dalmatia. In 1942 there were 4020 Italians in these newly annexed areas: 2220 in Spalato (Split), 300 in Sebenico (Sibenik), 500 Cattaro (Kotor) and 1000 Veglia (Krk). Furthermore there were in the Governatorato 10000 Italians who took the Yugoslav citizenship after WWI, in order to remain there and be accepted without problems by the new Yugoslavian regime after the fall of the Austro-Hungarian Empire.[2]

After WWII Italy lost all the territories in Dalmatia, and more than 22000 Dalmatian Italians exiled mainly in Italy. There are still some Dalmatian Italians in Dalmatia: 300 in Croatia and 500 in Montenegro.

That means that in only one hundred years (fron the 1850s to the 1950s) the Dalmatian Italians decreased from 45000 in the 1857 Austrian Census [3] to less than one thousand in the last Croatian and Montenegrin Census.

The cultural influence from the Italian peninsula started during the Roman times.

Venetian Gate of Zara

The British Encyclopedia states that: "the monuments left in Dalmatia by the Romans are numerous and precious. They are chiefly confined to the cities; for the civilization of the country was always urban, just as its history is a record of isolated city-states rather than of a united nation. Beyond the walls of its larger towns, little was spared by the barbarian Goths, Avars and Slavs; and the battered fragments of Roman work which mark the sites of Salona, near Spalato, and of many other ancient cities, are of slight antiquarian interest and slighter artistic value. Among the monuments of the Roman period, by far the most noteworthy in Dalmatia, and, indeed, in the whole Balkan Peninsula, is the Palace of Diocletian at Spalato. Dalmatian architecture was influenced by Constantinopole in its general character from the 6th century until the close of the tenth. The oldest memorials of this period are the vestiges of three basilicas, excavated in Salona, and dating from the first half of the 7th century at latest. Then from Italy came the Romanesque. The belfry of S. Maria, at Zara, erected in 1105, is first in a long list of Romanesque buildings. At Arbe there is a beautiful Romanesque campanile which also belongs to the 12th century; but the finest example in this style is the cathedral of Trail. The 14th century Dominican and Franciscan convents in Ragusa are also noteworthy. Romanesque lingered on in Dalmatia until it was displaced by Venetian Gothic in the early years of the 15th century. The influence of Venice was then at its height. Even in the relatively hostile republic of Ragusa the Romanesque of the custom-house and Rectors' palace is combined with Venetian Gothic, while the graceful balconies and ogee windows of the Prijeki closely follow their Venetian models. In 1441 Giorgio Orsini of Zara, summoned from Venice to design the cathedral of Sebenico, brought with him the influence of the Italian Renaissance. The new forms which he introduced were eagerly imitated and developed by other architects, until the period of decadence - which virtually concludes the history of Dalmatian art - set in during the latter half of the 17th century. Special mention must be made of the carved woodwork, embroideries and plate preserved in many churches. The silver statuette and the reliquary of St Biagio at Ragusa, and the silver ark of St Simeon at Zara, are fine specimens of Italian jewellers' work, ranging in date from the 11th or 12th to the 17th century".

The "Riva" (seashore in Italian) of Split (Spalato), that was created and named by Bajamonti, the last Dalmatian Italian Major of the city. Nearby it is located the Comunita Italiana office of the local Dalmatian Italians

In the XIX century the cultural influence from Italy originated the editing in Zara of the first dalmatian newspaper, in Italian and Croat: Il Regio Dalmata - Kraglski Dalmatin, founded and published by the Italian Bartolomeo Benincasa in 1806.

The Regio Dalmata - Kraglski Dalmatin was stamped in the tipography of Antonio Luigi Battara and was the first done in croat language.

The cultural influence from Italy is clearly evident in the urbanization plans of the main Dalmatian cities in the XIX/XX centuries. One of the best examples is the one of Split/Spalato.

In 1880 Antonio Bajamonti (the last Dalmatian Italian Major of Spalato under Austrian rule) developed an urbanization project of this city centered on the "Riva", a seaside walkway full of palms based on the Italian Riviera models. Even today the Riva (with cafe bars) is used by the locals to stroll in a typical Italian way from the Palace of Diocletian toward an old square called locally "Pjaca" (or square in venetian).

An enduring example of the Italian cultural and historic presence in Dalmatia is the small town of Perasto (Perast) in coastal Montenegro.

Postcard showing the Venetian architecture of Perasto in 1900

Perasto was at its peak in the 18th century under the Republic of Venice, when it had as many as four active shipyards, a fleet of around one hundred ships, and 1,643 residents. At that time the most beautiful buildings arose in this fortified town. Many ornate baroque palaces and magnificent dwelling-houses decorated the town of Perast (Perasto), full of typical venetian architecture[3].

At the fall of the "Serenissima" (1797) Perasto was the last city of the Repubblic to lower the Venetian flag. On 12 May 1797, the Republic of Venice ended, but a few places in the Albania Veneta for several months still continued to remain loyal to the Venetian Repubblic: Perasto was the last place of the Repubblic to surrender. On 22 August 1797 the Count Giuseppe Viscovich, Captain of Perasto lowered the Venetian flag of the Lion of Saint Mark pronouncing the farewell words in front of the crying people of the city and buried the "Gonfalon of Venice" under the altar of the main church of Perasto.

The population has since decreased to 430 in 1910 and around 360 today. According to the "Comunita' nazionale italiana del Montenegro", in Perast actually there are 140 persons who still speak at home the original venetian dialect of Perasto (called "veneto da mar"), and call themselves in the census "Montenegrins".

^ Citizens of the venetian Perasto (in that period the city had 1,600 citizens) became privileged in the Venetian Republic. They were allowed to trade with large ships and to sell goods without tax on the Venetian market, which made them very rich. As an example of the wealth of people from Perasto, at the end of 18th century they managed to collect 50,000 Venetian gold coins (about 200 kg of gold) in order to pay the famous Venetian constructor Giuseppe Beati to build them the highest campanile (55 m) on the East-Adriatic coast. Right in front of Perasto there are two small islands. St George with its small church from the 12th century and the artificial island "Gospa od Skrpjela" (in venetian Madonna dello Scarpello) with a very interesting legend. On the reef whose top was 1m above the surface of the water, people from Perasto had been throwing rocks and sinking old shipwrecks for 200 years, thus creating a plateau of 3,030 square meters, which they then built a church on. Along with the impression that the island gives with its architecture, for centuries the church received many gifts and now it is a type of gallery and treasury of various objects. Beside 68 oil on canvas works done by Tripo Cocolia (the most talented baroque painter on the East-Mediterranean coast during the 17th century), on the church walls there are 2,500 golden and silver votive tablets which people from the Cattaro area donated to the church, in order to avoid various human disasters.

Bibliografía [

Monday, 15 October 2007

Dalmatian Italians

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

The "Riva" (seashore in Italian) of Split (Spalato), that was created and named by Bajamonti, the last Dalmatian Italian Major of the city. Nearby it is located the Comunita Italiana office of the local Dalmatian Italians

.

Dalmatian Italians are one of the historical ethnic groups of Dalmatia (in today's Republics of Croatia and Montenegro).
They are currently represented in Croatia and Montenegro by the Comunita Nazionale Italiana (C.N.I.). The Treaty Italo-Croatian on Minorities recognizes to the Unione Italiana the role of association representing officially the C.N.I. in Croatia.[1]

In Dalmatia the most important centers of the C.N.I. are in Zadar (Zara), Split (Spalato) and Kotor (Cattaro). [2][3]

Main Dalmatian Italian Associations

In contemporary Dalmatia there are some Associations of the Dalmatian Italians, mainly located in important coastal cities:

Comunita Italiana di Zara. Founded in 1991 in Zadar (Zara), with an Assembly of 17 members. Actually has for president Rina Villani (who has been recently elected [4] in the 'Zupanija' of the city). The former president of the C.I., Dr. Libero Grubissich, created the first italian courses in the city after the close of all the italian school there in 1953. The actual vicepresident, Silvio Duiella, has promoted the creation of an Italian Choral of Zadar/Zara under the direction of Adriana Grubelić. In the new offices, the C.I has a library and organizes several courses of Italian and conferences. [5]

Comunita Italiana di Spalato. Was created in 1993 in Split (Spalato), with an office near the "Riva" (or seashore in Italian) of the city. The president is Eugenio Dalmas and the legal director is Mladen Dalbello. Some members are even from Sibenik/Sebenico. In the office, the C.I. makes several courses of Italian language and conferences.[6]

Comunita Italiana di Lussinpiccolo. Created in 1990 in the northern Dalmatian island of Losinj (Lussino). This C.I. was founded thanks to Stelio Cappelli (first president) in this little island, that belonged to the Kingdom of Italy from 1918 to 1947. It has 21 members under the actual leadership of Anna Maria Saganici, Livia Andrijčić and Andrino Maglievaz. The activities are done in a place offered by the local authorities. The library has been donated by the local Rotary Club.[7]

Comunita Italiana di Cattaro. Actually in Kotor (Cattaro) is being registered officially (with the "Unione Italiana") the Comunita' degli Italiani in Montenegro. In connection with this registration, the "Centro Ricerche Culturali Dalmate" has opened in 2007 the Casa Veneta in Kotor/Cattaro to celebrate the venetian heritage in coastal Montenegro.

Association Dante Alighieri. The Dante Alighieri is an Italian government organization that promotes the Italian language in the world, with the help of the italian speaking communities outside Italy. In Dalmatia is present in:

In the city of Rijeka (Fiume), that is partially dalmatian, the 7000 Italians have the local Comunita Italiana[12], the Dante Alighieri[13] and the Dramma Italiano (a theater organization in italian language, based in the Croat National Theater Ivan Zajc).

Outside of Dalmatia there are thousands of Dalmatian Italians, mainly in Italy, who are organized in several associations of exiled (like, as an example, the one of Losinj/Lussinpiccolo [14]).The most important is the Libero Comune di Zara in esilio (Free City of Zadar/Zara in exile).

Contemporary famous Dalmatian Italians

More than 20000 Dalmatian Italians participated in the Italian Exodus from the dalmatian territories of the Kingdom of Italy, obtained by Tito's Yugoslavia after WWII. Many thousands of them still live in a suburb of Rome, called from them Quartiere Dalmato. Someone has international fame, like the fashion designer Ottavio Missoni, the writer Enzo Bettiza and the industrial tycoon Giorgio Luxardo.

The most renowned magazine of the Dalmatian Italians is Il Dalmata, published in Trieste by Renzo de' Vidovich. [15]

Ottavio Missoni

Small list of living and renowned "Dalmatian Italians":

Enzo Bettiza, journalist and international writer from Split/Spalato

Ottavio Missoni, international fashion designer from Dubrovnik/Ragusa

Renzo de' Vidovich, writer and director of "Il Dalmata"

Franco Luxardo, major of "Libero Comune di Zara in esilio"

Giorgio Luxardo, owner of the most famous "Maraschino" liquor distillery

Simone Filippo Stratico, writer and university professor

Rina Villani, president of the "Comunita italiana" of Zadar/Zara

Eugenio Dalmas, president of the "Comunita italiana" of Split/Spalato

Adriana Grubelić, director of the Italian Choral of Zadar/Zara

Tullio Crali, futurist painter

Giuseppe Lallich, Split/Spalato painter

Tonino Picula, Losinj/Lussino politician

Secondo Raggi, Zadar/Zara painter

Franco Ziliotto, Zadar/Zara painter

Waldese Coen, Split/Spalato sculptor

Presence in Dalmatia

Currently, after the Italian exodus from Dalmatia[1]during and following WWII, the Dalmatian Italians are reduced to 300 in Croatia and 500 in Montenegro.

There are Italian communities even in Rijeka (Fiume]], a city that geographically belongs to northern Dalmatia but historically has been a connecting point between Dalmatia, Istria, Zagreb and Hungary.

The Dalmatian Italians were a fundamental presence in Dalmatia, when the process of political unification of the Italians, Croats and Serbs started at the beginning of the XIX century. The 1816 Austro-hungarian census registered 66000 Italian speaking people between the 301000 inhabitants of Dalmatia, or 22% of the total dalmatian population.[2]. Already in 1853 they had decreased to 45000 over 369000. [16]

After those years their presence constantly decreased, until their nearly disappearance after WWII. That means that in nearly two centuries the Dalmatian Italians' presence went from nearly one quarter of the population in Dalmatia to the actual less than one thousand in Croatia and Montenegro.

Historical background

The origin of the Italians in the maritime Dalmatia can be traced back to the period of influence in the region of the Venetians, who assimilated the original neolatin Dalmatians (or romanized Illyrians).[3]

The Dalmatia of the Republic of Venice in 1560, before the inclusion of the Republic of Ragusa

The Republic of Venice controlled most of Dalmatia from 1420 to 1797. The Venetian possessions were called "Venetian Dalmatia" and enjoyed a flourishing period of economic bonanza with huge development of the arts.

In these centuries, the Venetian language became the lingua franca of all the Adriatic Balkans, assimilating the Dalmatian language of the romanized Illyrians and influencing partially even the coastal Croatian language (Chakavian[17]) and the Albanian language.[4]Zara was the capital of the Venetian Dalmatia, a role that has maintained through the successive centuries (during WWII was the capital of the Italian Governatorato di Dalmazia).

In those centuries, the most southern area of Dalmatia was called Albania Veneta, now part of coastal Montenegro.

Formerly an important presence (30% of the Dalmatian population during the last century of the Republic of Venice was venetian speaking)[5], the Dalmatian Italians concentrated in the maritime Dalmatia. Nearly all the Italians in Dalmatia left or were croatised between the 1840s and 1950s, as a consequence of ethnic conflicts with the region's Croatian majority.

The decrease of the Dalmatian Italians

According to two census data [6] of the Austro-Hungarian Empire, that substituted in Dalmatia the Republic of Venice after the Napoleonic wars, the Dalmatian Italians were 12,5% in 1865 and were already reduced to 3,1% in 1890.

These census results were anyway referred to all Dalmatia (with the Slavic inland), whilst the Italians were present only in the coastal cities and in the islands. For example, in the Habsburg empire census of 1910 the city of Zara (Zadar) had an Italian population of 9318 (or 69,3% out of the total of 13438 inhabitants).

The Dialect of the Dalmatian Italians was classified in 1920 by G. Tagliavicini as Dialetto Settentrionale Italiano (northern Italian dialect)

The reasons of the decrease of the Dalmatian Italians after the fall of the Republic of Venice in 1797 are various [7] :

One is related to the development of the nationalism of the Croats, Serbs and Slovenians.

Between 1848 and 1918 the Austro-Hungarians favored the Slav communities in Dalmatia, mainly because fearful of the Italian irredentism.

After WWI and as a consequence of the creation of Yugoslavia (where was included all Dalmatia, less Zara and some northern dalmatian islands), there was an emigration of 25000 Dalmatian Italians, mainly toward Italy and Zara.

During WWII Italy conquered the coast of Yugoslavia and created the Governatorato di Dalmazia (1941 - 1943), with three Italian provinces (Zara, Spalato and Cattaro). As a consequence Zara was heavily bombarded by the Allies and nearly fully destroyed in 1943, with many civilian casualties.

After WWII Italy was forced to give all the remaining Italian areas in Dalmatia to the Yugoslavia of Tito. As a consequence happened a massive emigration (originated even by the foibe massacres) of nearly all the Dalmatian Italians remaining. Actually there are only 300 of them in Croatia.